Tha Aung oral history interview and transcript

This recording and transcript form part of a collection of oral history interviews conducted by the Chao Center for Asian Studies at Rice University. This collection includes audio recordings and transcripts of interviews with Asian Americans native to or living in Houston.Tha Aung was born in Thailand to a Burmese father and Karen mother, and grew up in a small village in Burma. At around age 14, his mother took him, his brother, and his sister to the Mae La refugee camp in Thailand to escape from the Burmese civil war and oppression of the Karen people. Tha spent 4 years there, and finished high school (equivalent to 10th grade in the US). At age 18, he and his family came to Houston with the help of the UNHCR. In Houston, Tha earned his GED, studied to become a phlebotomist, and worked at a Foxconn factory, where he met his wife. At the age of 23 he began working at the HOPE Clinic’s eligibility department, especially helping translate for Burmese and Karen immigrants who do not speak English. Tha is now 28 and continues to work at the HOPE Clinic, and lives in Sharpstown with his wife, 5-year-old daughter, mother, and siblings